Apple Faces Major Market Challenges in 2013: 10 Things It Must Fix

Figuring Out Maps

The Apple Maps app continues to be a major thorn in Apple's side. The application wasn't ready when it launched with iOS 6, and now with Google Maps hitting 10 million downloads in just a week of availability in the App Store, Apple's failure with this application is looking even worse. Next year, Apple must get Maps working properly or it should just leave maps to Google.

Apple had a strong 2012 as sales of its most popular products, the iPhone and iPad, soared. Even Apple's Macintosh line had a stellar year, and the company's MacBook Pro is now the world's best-selling notebook. Apple appears, at first glance, to be firing on all cylinders. Most can certainly agree that the company has solidified its position as the most important and successful technology firm the industry has ever seen. Apple has simply been able to reach heights that many thought were impossible. And it should be commended for that. Yet 2013 isn't necessarily shaping up to be such a huge success for the iPhone maker. Believe it or not, Apple is facing some huge challenges in the coming year, and doesn't necessarily seem prepared to handle them. The Mac Pro, once a huge part of its Mac business, has been ignored for years, and customers want answers. Maps is still a mess. And for now, the company doesn't have an answer to Android's tremendous growth—Apple's aggressive patent litigation campaign verses Samsung notwithstanding. Here, eWEEK examines why Apple, even with its super-stellar record of success for the past several years, might not be in as good a shape as its CEO Tim Cook and his fellow executives would have the world believe.